


All The Tea In China

by KazOfScotland



Series: Hermione’s Haven Bingo 2021 [3]
Category: Bones (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 30 Days of Winter Writing, Canonical Character Death, Episode: s06e22 The Hole in the Heart, Fear of Abandonment, Gen, Keep Calm and Write Something, Loss of family (temporarily), Memory Charm | Obliviate (Harry Potter), Over-protective sister, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29094648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazOfScotland/pseuds/KazOfScotland
Summary: Hermione had kept a secret for the duration of her time at Hogwarts. She had a brother - Vincent. And after having to leave her family to fight Voldemort, she made him a promise, she would meet him once a week. And not even death was going to stop that.
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Vincent Nigel-Murray
Series: Hermione’s Haven Bingo 2021 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2111397
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: 30 Days of Winter Writing, Hermione's Haven Bingo 2021





	All The Tea In China

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Keep Calm and Write Something 30 Days of Winter Writing Prompt; Tea.  
> This was also written for Hermione's Haven Bingo prompt: Vincent Nigel-Murray which is square B2 on my bingo card. 
> 
> Thank you AlocYrrehc for beta reading this.

Hermione Granger had a secret, one she’d kept even from her best friends during her years at Hogwarts. At first it was to protect herself; it hurt her too much to think about it. Leaving her parents behind whilst she went off to Hogwarts to study was difficult, but she had left more than just her parents, she left her little brother behind as well. She’d been adopted shortly after she was born. From what she had been told her biological parents had been killed in a car accident and she had been born via emergency c-section. Her little brother, Vincent, had also been adopted just prior to her leaving for Hogwarts. 

Even once she had managed to deal with the pain of leaving her family at home the better part of a year, with only a couple of visits home for holidays, Voldemort’s return made her fear for her family, especially her brother. She could handle the hatred towards her because she was a Muggle-born Witch, she just didn’t want to think of what could happen to her brother if he were discovered by Death Eaters. She loved her brother, little Vincent, more than she had ever thought that she would, and that meant that she would do everything that she could to protect him. So Hermione Granger kept her secret. 

It had hurt to use a Memory Charm on her parents to wipe their memories of her. But when seven-year-old Vincent ran to her and wrapped his arms around her waist in the tightest hug ever, it killed her to do the same to him. She knew what she was losing, but by erasing their memories of her, she knew that they would be alive, they would be able to live a long and wonderful life without being in danger from Voldemort and the death eaters. She could live with then not knowing who she was, she could live with only watching her little brother grow up from afar, but she couldn’t live with herself if anything happened to them, if they suffered like Neville’s parents had, because the Death Eaters wanted answers. 

It wasn’t until over a year after the end of the Battle of Hogwarts, the end of Voldemort’s reign, that Hermione made the decision that she wanted to go home. She wanted her mum, she wanted her dad, but most of all she wanted to see how her brother had grown up. It had been tough being without her family whilst everyone she associated with, well except for Harry, still had their family, still had a support system. And she would admit it, she was jealous. She missed the little things, like being able to go home and tell her family about her day. 

So, a year and a half or so after Voldemort’s fall, just before Christmas, Hermione approached Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey to find out if the Memory Charm was reversible. She knew it wouldn’t be a quick question or a quick fix; the Memory Charm was a serious bit of magic, with devastating consequences if done incorrectly. As such it was no surprise that the reversal would be equally difficult. 

It wasn’t until the third anniversary of the day that she cast the Memory Charm on them that she had a reversal. It was not simple at all. It couldn’t just be a spell but it was also a potion. 

Professor Flickwick and Madam Pomfrey had been kind enough to help. Flickwick taught her how to cast the spell correctly, making her practice over and over until the wand movements were perfected, the pronunciation left no chance of misunderstanding. When they were done it was just muscle memory to move her wand that way and to say the words with perfect elocution. 

Madam Pomfrey created the potion for her. Outside of Professor Snape, the Hogwarts matron had the most experience with memory potions, and she had graciously agreed to oversee the demanding brewing. 

The first member of her family that she laid her eyes on after three years was her little brother, only she chuckled to realize he wasn’t so little anymore. Vincent, now ten, was full of cheek, ready to push her buttons. But her heart still flooded with joy and love the minute she saw him. He had grown up, but he was still her little brother. 

She sat over to the side of the park watching him chase a football around the park. He was definitely one of the worst players, but she was proud of him forgetting out there and doing his best. That was all that she had ever wanted for him: the chance to be his best self and live life to the fullest. 

She couldn’t see her parents around but she could see the parents of a couple of Vincent’s classmates that he had always been close to. She was kind of glad not to see her parents. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to face all three of them when they couldn’t remember her. Knowing her parents, they would pull Vincent away if they caught her lurking, ever protective from potential stranger danger. 

Knowing it wouldn’t be too long before she would get to restore their memories, one by one, she felt relief wash over her. It comforted her to know soon she would get a chance to hug her parents and her little brother, to have a family, her own family, again. 

Wrapped in these thoughts, her focus drifted away from where Vincent was on the field. She was brought back to the moment when a sudden weight thudded into her. She looked down to see a pair of arms wrap around her. 

“Miney!” Her heart broke as she looked down and saw Vincent’s arms wrapped around her, his head against her chest. His arms were locked around his waist as if he was scared that she was going to leave him if he let go. “I knew you were real. I knew you weren’t just in my imagination.” She held him close and leaned her head down to press a kiss to his head. 

“What do you mean, Vinnie?” Hermione asked as she held her brother just as tight. She knew that she had to find out how he recognised her, especially given the fact that she clearly remembered casting the Memory Charm on him. It haunted her, seeing him go from recognising her to being terrified. 

“Mum and dad don’tremember you. Whenever I would talk about you they would say that you were just my imaginary friend. Did you know  that at the 1908 Olympics, the Russians showed up 12 days late because they were using the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar?” He said it in one breath, his voice muffled as he curled in closer to her chest. She could tell that he was nervous by the fact that he was spouting out random facts. It had been something that he had done since he was old enough to talk, and honestly, she couldn’t find it any more endearing than she already did. To her, maybe not everyone, but to her it was sweet and wonderful and it just showed how smart he was. 

“I didn’t know about that, Vinnie. That’s interesting though.” She ran her hand through his hair soothingly and looked up, seeing her dad approaching in the distance. She knew that her time with Vinnie was drawing to close, but the fact that he remembered her solved the issue of how she would get her parents to drink the potion. “I’ve got to go now, Vinnie, but do you think you can do me a favour?” She made it sound exciting, like an adventure. It was important that he didn’t think he would get in trouble for what she was going to ask of him. 

“Always, Miney.” 

She took a deep breath before she unhooked his arms from around her waist. She loved him and she has missed him. That sense of protectiveness that only older siblings experience had returned to settle deep within her heart, but she knew that she had to squash it down and let him take this risk. 

“I have a special tea that I need mum and dad to drink, do you think you can get them to drink it?” She could feel her heart racing as she glanced up from Vinny’s face to see their dad getting closer. She had to go. There wasn’t long left until her dad would be there, right in front of them. She had no choice but to go. Now. 

“Yes, I can do it. Do you know that tea dates back over 3000 years in China?” And that was her little brother, always ready with a fact that would make her smile. 

“I did. But I promise you, I’ll be back home soon. And then even if we separate we’ll still meet for tea.” 

With those words said, she pulled the flask that contained the potion out and handed it to Vinny and a step back towards the trees before turning and walking away. It wouldn’t be long now. Just a couple of more days and then she would be home. For good. 

Once her parents remembered who she was, she was able to return home, and everything went back to almost normal. She always did her best to make sure that Vincent knew that she would be back, and if she was away to stay at the Burrow with Ron for a couple of days, well then she would make sure that she phoned him. At first she was glad that that day in the park Vincent had recognised her, as it gave her hope it would be possible to return to her family, but now she saw the damage it had done to her brother. If only she’d been able to give him fake memories, like she had with her parents.

Her parents thought she’d gone away for a few years, travelling, taking in all that there was of the world around them. They had no idea she’d made them forget who she was, to protect them, and to insulate them should she not survive. But Vincent, her baby brother, the young boy she had sworn to protect and had never once mentioned to her friends, he suffered. He was terrified that she was going to leave him again. 

So they made a deal, broken only when her brother died.. Once a week, regardless of where they both were, they would meet and talk over a cup of tea. Normally, Hermione would just listen while Vincent would tell her about all the facts that he’d learnt. It seemed he couldn’t wait to be old enough to go to college and learn more and more facts. But they both got older. Hermione’s own family began to grow, and instead of only listening, she would tell him about his niece and nephew, and he would tell her about his dream. He had a dream of being a forensic anthropologist, and going to America to study under the best. 

They told everyone that he had a retentive memory but it was more than that. He couldn’t ever forget anything. It didn’t matter what it was, if he learnt it, then he remembered it. Always. But Hermione knew it was also true for things he experienced, and that was why her leaving affected him so much more than her parents. He couldn’t forget anything that happened during that time, he couldn’t forget all of the facts that he wanted to share with her. And that right there was the reason that she refused to leave him alone for longer than a week again. 

“I would never have given this up, talking to you with a cup of tea. No, not for all the tea in China, Vinnie,” Hermione said as she sat on the ground next to Vincent’s grave. It was quiet, and depressingly sad, but in a way she felt like he was there. She felt like he was sitting next to her, a modern bowler hat placed atop his head, and a smile that was contagious. She loved that idea. “I know that somewhere out there you are still there, you're still listening to me, and I promise I will be here, every week with a cup of tea and a random fact. I won’t stop, so you won't be alone. You’ll never be alone again. I’ll never abandon you again.” 

The tears wouldn’t stop, but she could practically hear him. Random fact running free from him as she sat there sipping upon her tea. She knew that it would take forever until she ever got to hear his random facts again. But she believed, she honestly believed that she would see him again once her time on earth was over and done with. They would reunite again but until then she would let him live on in her heart and joy. 

“Not for all the tea in China, Vinnie.” 

  
  



End file.
